


Karma As Cruel As You

by BlueDarknessIceHeart



Series: Fire Starter//Ash Covered [6]
Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, F/M, The Red Plague, There is not a happy ending here, Unplanned Pregnancy, Unsurvivable pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-04 14:08:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14021931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueDarknessIceHeart/pseuds/BlueDarknessIceHeart
Summary: Alia has chased and chased her happiness her entire life. Handling a plague that's ripping apart Vesuvia, and now Lucio, is not the optimal time to finally have the one thing she's truly wished for to come true. A small bright spot in the middle of everything going wrong, seeing Lucio genuinely happy even when he's unable to leave his room is something she hadn't seen in months.Of course it doesn't last.





	Karma As Cruel As You

He noticed it in her magic, the way it faltered and flickered like a dying flame around her fingers, the shine of tears in her eyes as he quietly pulled her to him tearing at his heart. The way she shook, fingers gripping on to his shirt like it was the only thing holding either of them there, his own slowly moving through her hair at the base of her neck, muffling her sobs in his shoulder.

Lucio pressed a kiss to her temple, her trembling fingers coming up to brush tears of his own off of his face. He wrapped himself around her, his good hand resting across her abdomen, and she only pulled him closer when she felt him tremble too. Neither of them wanted to breathe a word about what the plague settling into her truly meant, and her hand joined his.

 

Reylina saw it in the way the woman who had gone from exhausted and stretched thin, a wild thing trying to protect the only family she had, began to falter entirely. The magician almost didn't blame her for nearly clawing out her eye, fear and rage enough fire to Alia's gasoline personality. Her empathy always won in the end.

Rey pulled her aside, quiet questions of _how long,_ and _how far._ She was met with a piercing glare only offset by the shine of tears, the gauntness of the witch's face, and the beginning of an awkward jut of collarbones against her skin.

 

The news she'd lead with would have been exciting, if not for her appearance. Nadia's eyes, confusion filled and then _worried,_ locked onto her before the Countess dropped her head into her hands. Alia was vicious and cruel, yes, but she was also one of the few friends she had in this palace, and Nadia could see her still trying to shoulder the weight of Lucio's illness before even acknowledging her own - could almost feel her loss all the same.

Alia placed a hand on her shoulder, the bed dipping as she settled next to Nadia. She pulled the witch into her side, and the woman shook quietly beside her. Nadia wasn't sure if she was crying for herself or her child, but they both wept all the same.

 

Julian looked devastated to see her thinning, cheeks hollowing and the dark pools under her eyes from exhaustion turning into sunken, veined reminders that she was going to follow Lucio into the grave. _And it was his fault_ He couldn't meet her gaze, despite the way she'd seemed to soften around him in almost the same way she did around Lucio.

She caught his hand before he could tug at his own hair, Julian finally meeting eyes only a few shades darker than his own. "It's not your fault, Julian. Please don't blame yourself." she dropped his hand, and he watched her slip back into the shadows of the palace, stunned into silence.

 

Asra was surprisingly sympathetic, and Alia didn't know how much of it was genuine. She still sat outside, back pressed to the same tree he was always under, eyes cast up to the sky. He was calming to be around, when he wasn't being a thorn in her side.

"Have you thought of any names?" he was quiet, and her heart ached at the thought - _names for a child who will never be._ Her hand rested over her stomach, the bare sign of a bump present. "I always liked the names Rian and Layla." she sounded broken, the fight she'd had in her her entire life finally gone, and Asra could only offer a sad smile. "Those are good names, Alia."


End file.
